I got screwed over only on one deal really, for a Roland Groove box that showed up not working. I was able to repair it, but the A$$ was unresponsive after I complained about it. The big trend as of late is everyone is trying to recoup their losses on shipping fees. I've had people selling something dirt cheap, but then want 25 dollars to ship something that would fit in a FREE Priority mail box and then cost only $3.70 to ship.
Anymore when I bid, the 1st thing I look for after the initial price is the shipping charges, my newest and biggest peeve about ****.
I've had some sucsess with emailing and saying essentially that I know how much it costs to ship said item, I'll pay for that and maybe a couple dollars for your gas or time, but beyond that, if you want a sale, you'll haggle a bit, otherwise, I'm not buying. Some people go for it, others admit that it is the only way they are actually making a profit on some things like CPUs or other PC componants. To them, I say F-U !
I've also dashed a few people's hopes on that shipping cost by bidding on an item that was close to home and then just picking it up.
Bamm